Re: Z-Wave RF range

["Robert L Bass" <robertbass1@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

>> Houston is trying to convince you that
>> things running in the 900mHz band
>> have an average range of 20-25 feet.
>> That is total BS and he knows it.
>
> It sure will be more than 25ft but it won't
> likely reach our garage ;-)

That would depend on how many other nodes you were to use and their placement.  If Z-Wave passes my test (nodes about evenly spaced
to reach all three wings of the house) I'll be adding lots more.  I have 55 switches, dimmers and fan controllers inside the house,
about 10 more outside and about 20 outlets I want to control.

> Just for the record I am not dissing Z-Wave
> or RF in general here but I wanted to raise
> a concern. After all, I work in the field of RF engineering ;-)

I didn't get the impression you were being unfair.  It's Dave Houston's deliberate misrepresentations with which I took issue.

>>> It's like with cars. A tire blow-out is considered
>>> as something that can happen. An engine that
>>> quits is, nowadays, considered something that's
>>> not supposed to happen.

Assuming the owner remembers to change the oil, that is true.  There was this beautiful Chevy conversion van I once owned, however,
and... oh, well.  :(

>> Appliances fail.  Lights burn out.  HA
>> components occasionally need service.
>> The issue here isn't whether things can
>> fail. The question raised is what is the
>> range of Z-Wave, a 900mHz RF system.
>> I say it's a good deal more than the 25-
>> 30 feet some have claimed.  Experience
>> tells me that.
>>
>> If you're waiting until there are no problems, forget it.  You'll never get there.  Every industry always has problems.  I choose
>> to work in this trade because I enjoy it.  It's also modestly remunerative.  :^)
>>
>
> Good for you. I work in the med electronics biz and maybe that makes me a bit picky. Our stuff has to work. All the time, even
> after having been smashed into an elevator door. A major conk-out can easily lead to a nasty lawsuit or at least cause some FDA
> guys to waltz in there and fasten a gigantic padlock on the factory doors. It's happened.
>
>>
>>>>No problem.  I'll let you know how
>>>>it works for me anyway.
>>>
>>>Yes, please let us all know.
>>
>>
>>>>Many (most?) of those are non-towered
>>>>anyway.  Some only have UNICOM
>>>>service which is operated very sporadically.
>>>>Some have nothing at all -- pilots simply
>>>>"self announce" before they maneuver in
>>>>the area.
>>>
>>>That's exactly how this airfield works. The
>>>runway lights are "keyed on" by keying the
>>>mike 4-5 times. They do that right over our
>>>house and a 5W transmitter packs a punch
>>>if it's only 250ft away :-(
>
> Don't we all play those games? Once I joked a bit after the gear was lowered "That didn't sound normal!". My wife told me never to
> do that again. Well, after we had an engine out over the Atlantic I kind of don't do that anymore.

The only engine failure I ever experienced was with my CFI flying right seat and my son in the back seat.  At first I thought he had
done something so I was totally relaxed (a little annoyed, actually, because I didn't want him to scare my son) as I went through
the engine failure checklist: applied full throttle and carb heat, pushed forward to put it in best glide speed, checked all the
goodies while making a slow turn back toward a golf course we had just passed.  When I'd completed the check list I asked the CFI,
"OK, now what?", expecting him to reach over and undo whatever he'd done to kill my engine.

Instead he said, "I don't know.  This isn't a test."

[me, silently: Aggggkkkkhhh!]

Then he said, "Are you forgetting something?"

I thought for a moment and then put the fear of God into my boy as I keyed the yoke button and said, "Mayday, mayday, mayday.  This
is Cessna ######.  I have an engine failure and will attempt off airport landing approximately 18 miles West of Brainard Airport.  I
am a white 172 with red lettering. I have three souls on board."

In truth, young Joe thought we were pulling his leg all the way up to when Center replied, telling me to squawk 7700 which I had
only simulated doing at first, thinking the CFI had been testing me.

My wife won't even ride in anything that seats less than 100 pax but I love small airplanes.  BTW, there's a guy we know who claims
(you'll love this one) that Boeing loaned him a brand new 737 so he could test his pet theory about a fatal airline accident.  He
says he snap-rolled the 737 at 5000 AGL... and lived to tell about it.  The guy never flew anything bigger than a paper airplane, of
course.  :^)

>> There's plenty of more noxious stuff
>> than Visqueen to burn in a house.
>
> Sure, but why add to the mix if it isn't
> necessary? I try to avoid plastics when
> I can. And wood, because that stuff not
> only burns but also rots.

Plastic is pretty tough to avoid.  I'm replacing my roof at present.  The new method doesn't use tar any more.  It's a peel and
stick layer of what looks like pantry shelf paper, except wider and heavier.

>> What is it with California anyway?
>> You guys have millions of geniuses
>> working in Silicone Valley yet you
>> hire moron ex-actors as governors.
>> Oh, well.  At least this one can't
>> become president.
>
> Not yet, and maybe he doesn't want to.

He's inelligible.  He wasn't born in the USA.

> But he sure is a good governor IMHO.
> I don't like his movies though. Not
> because of his acting but because I
> don't enjoy those kinds of movies at all.

His movies are mostly just silly.  He's so wooden it becomes a sort of comedy.

--

Regards,
Robert L Bass

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